Owe
by Crying Stone
Summary: Finding out the reason behind his lover's refusal makes Akashi's heart flutter in warmth.


**Kuroko no Basuke is owned by Fujimaki Tadatoshi**

Being raised in a well-off family doesn't make him less independent than he is now.

Living alone in an apartment, doing all the chores whilst juggling his time with office work and taking care of his tenants is not that much of a work for him. Perhaps it's one of his hard upbringing merits. To be able to do anything and everything exceptionally well, just like what was expected of him. It was one heavy burden in the past, where he did break into pieces under. But now he's free, he doesn't have to do that anymore.

He wouldn't have thought being disowned could give him so much freedom, so much oxygen to breath in.

Taking out some eggs, miscellaneous vegetables, assorted meats and spices from his fridge -lightly reminding himself to go grocery shopping later- he makes simple dishes for breakfast. Something easy to eat and to digest. A mere ten minutes later, warm tamagoyaki, healthy salad, puffy rice and karaage are ready to serve. He took a small portion of it and the rest went to a bento box, wrapped in pale blue handkerchief.

Breakfast is an uneventful event as there is no one to talk to. Only the gentle murmur of the outside world fills the silence in the room. After cleaning up the table, washing the dishes, he brew himself a nice coffee and watched the morning news. It won't hurt to be more up to date with the world.

It's one of his rare day off -one that Nijimura, his boss, forced him to take- saying that he was working too hard lately. Meteors won't come crashing down on their company if he just take it easy for once; he said. He didn't say anything to that and just politely excused himself.

It's already ten when he was finished showering and doing all the chores for the day, so he decided now would be the right time to check on one of his tenants. A vanilla loving, blue-haired chickling.

Being the landlord, certainly he has a spare key for every room. He used that to his advantage for certain occasions, but more often than not; it's to safe his tenants life.

One time he found one of his tenants, a tall-guy by the name Murasakibara Atsushi, dying in his room because he accidentally swallowed a whole candy and it got stuck in his throat. He helped Aomine Daiki, a local cop with face rougher than drug dealers, who got cornered in his room by several cops from the capital for being suspected as a terrorist infiltrating Japan's police force. Another time he saved Kise Ryouta, a model, from a stalker –an obsessed fangirl- that was about to rape him. There was also one time he found Midorima Shintarou, a doctor, in the middle of wrecking his room apart because he lost his lucky item. Fortunately, he managed to help him find it before he decided to genocide the whole apartment.

However, compared to his other tenants; this one is his favorite. He managed three brisk knocks on the wooden door. Not even wasting his time to wait for permission, he opened the door.

Inside, the room is in disarray. Dishes hasn't been washed, clothes hasn't been folded, the mountain of garbage in the trash bin hasn't been thrown, laundry hasn't been done. Besides the abundance of laundry, he wondered why there are so many dishes to wash and what seemed to be food remains in the trash bin when his tenants barely cook and eat. But he decided not to question it. Maybe he finally listened to him and finally eat more homemade food.

Amongst the 'debris' in the room, he found a lump of blanket on top of the muddled bed in the corner of the room.

"Are you alive, Tetsuya?" He poked the lump.

A groan is heard from underneath that. "Please don't use the spare key as you please. That's a breach in privacy."

The red head shrugged. "I could argue that I can't let one of my tenants die in my apartment."

The fact that the lump didn't reply means he struck the nail on the head. The lump shuffled slightly and a head popped out. It was a young adult with chaotic bed head. He has sky blue hair and eyes. His skin is pale like the snow itself, which is why the eye bags under his eyes seemed a lot more prominent.

"What time is it?" He croaked out as he untangled his limbs from the warm blanket.

"A little past ten. I cooked too much for breakfast so I brought it over." Smooth lie there. One that both of them knew, but decided not to argue about. They've done that enough and made truce over it. The red head placed the neatly placed bento on the counter before he took a glass, fill it with water and gave it to the blue head.

Tetsuya muttered a small thank you before gulping it down, hydrating his dry throat.

"By the way, Akashi-kun." The man acknowledged with a questioning hum as he looked through his laundry. Kuroko ignored his activity and continued, "You left your key last time. Again."

A sigh slipped through Akashi's lips. "I'm sure you already understand the gesture, Tetsuya." He leaned on the counter and crossed his arms. "I'm asking you to stay in my room. For the umpteenth time."

Kuroko pulled his lips down, forming a cute frown. Stubborn. "Then I'll have to decline. For the umpteenth time."

The red head clicked his tongue. "Why are you so stubborn?"

"Akashi-kun is being stubborn too."

Silence ensued as they stared at each other. Neither wanted to back down.

"I'm trying to court you, you know." Akashi said blankly.

"I know" The reply came with the same level of blankness. "I still want to stay as a tenant here, Akashi-kun" Still stubborn.

Feeling a bit dejected, Akashi shrugged, looking off to the side. "Fine. I'm not going to force you."

Kuroko stared at him, thinking what to do. He sure didn't want to upset the man. He had been nice to him and he deserve at least the same treatment. The bluenet stood up and reached out for the bento beside the slightly taller male. Fidgeting on his feet slightly while contemplating.

"I can make hard boiled eggs."

The landlord raised a curious brow at the cute man beside him, silently asking for elaboration.

"I'll make hard boiled eggs for you every morning." The lack of details made Akashi tilt his head in curiosity.

"Which means?"

His cheeks are colored light pink hues now as he played with the bento's cloth. "I've been thinking about your offer for a long time and," he paused to lick his lips. It was only to wet his dry lips, but the red head sees it differently. "I think, it's okay to stay the night at your place."

Akashi's heart leapt to his throat in excitement and tons of butterfly filled his stomach. But... "Why not just stay permanently?"

Kuroko shook his head. "I... I'll consider that after I can make something other than hard boiled eggs."

Confusion marred his face for a moment. That doesn't make any se–– everything suddenly clicked in Akashi's genius brain; the dishes, food remains and the bluenet's refusal.

He was learning to cook, make himself useful, so that he doesn't completely rely on him. So that he can repay him in a way. It was probably his grandmother teachings not to trouble others.

His lover just loves to exceed his expectation.

Warmth surged from his heart, flowed through his veins and spread all over his body. He couldn't stop the chuckle spilling from his throat or the wide smile on his lips. He is such a lucky guy to have this bluenet all to himself. "Geez, you're just so cute." He wrapped his hands around his slim hip and landed a peck on the pink lips. "Fine, I accept your offer. I'll hire someone to teach you how to cook so you'll master it by the end of the month."

Kuroko frowned deeply, pushing his chest back slightly. "That's completely ignoring the main purpose, Akashi-kun."

"I know."

He leaned down to kiss him again and Kuroko didn't resist.


End file.
